Divorce Diaries

Single Working Mom

It's time for parent/teacher conferences again, and the sign up sheet came home with David a few days ago. Since both Peter and I work and have relatively long commuting situations, I always request an evening appointment. We haven't been assigned our official time yet, but we did get a special email last night from the elementary school.

The email was short, but to the point. It said that we, as parents, need be accomodating their schedule, and not asking for evening slots so much. Apparently, they're in high demand this year, which is not surprising - I used to be one of the few working Moms on my block and now just about all of them work at least part-time. The email went on to say that we need to be scheduling time off work, because these are our children and this is important and they only have one evening set aside for conferences along with three full days.

I hate emails like that.

My kid is important to me. He and his sister are my entire world - especially now that their father has moved on. And being a single mother with a big, underwater mortgage, I cannot afford to do anything that might hurt me in the workplace. The week they have the parent teacher conferences is a huge week for me at work, as well. We're hosting a major event that I have to be there daily to coordinate. And while my employer is terrific about paid time off, just like anyone else, there are certain times when it's going to be a problem for me not to be at work. In this economy, I'm sure there are plenty of parents working at jobs they can't afford to lose or for employers that they can't afford to inconvenience. Maybe the workload is heavy that week, or they're shorthanded, or the boss is just not an understanding sort. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of us that really can't just take time off anytime we feel like it.

Now I get to sweat it, and hope they come through for me and I win one of the evening slots. Otherwise, I'll have to take at least 2+ hours off work (adding in the commute and the fact that they always seem to run behind in scheduling). Hopefully, Peter has an easier time than I do rearranging his week, if it becomes necessary. I could always just let him attend, but since he's not home to debrief me anymore and our communication is monosyllabic at best, I am not comfortable with that in any way.

This single parenting stuff makes all kinds of stress out of what should be the simplest things, doesn't it?

About The Author

Ellie DeLano

Ellie DeLano is a parenting and relationship blogger, a freelance writer, a full-time working single mom, and frequently exhausted. She's slogging her way through the world of single parenting, mid-life dating and reinventing herself with a pop-tart in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

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